Marilyn Manson started out as Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids in 1989. They made the debut of their first album and their alternative-style industrial metal in 1994. Since then, Marilyn Manson has lost, gained, and regained members at a rapid rate, with the band being reduced to 2 people in 2007. Marilyn Manson have continued to reinvent themselves right from the release of their first album. While they've always been a form of industrial metal, their style has change dramatically from one album to the next, as they constantly shift the focus and meaning of their music. Marilyn Manson in it's form today is Marilyn Manson (vocals), Twiggy Ramirez (guitar and bass), Ginger Fish(drums), and Chris Vrenna (keyboards)

Marilyn Manson as of 1994

Marilyn Manson as of 2007

The High End of Low was Manson's "return" of sorts. 2007s Eat Me, Drink Me wasn't met with a lot of praise. A lot of fans didn't like the new emo-esque image that the band was presenting. At this time the band was left down to only Marilyn Manson and Tim Skold. Another problem with it was that Tim Skold(of KMFDM fame) was the only one who would write the melodies, which differed significantly from what Manson fans where used to. The High End of Low fixed this problem by having Twiggy Ramirez (one of Manson's oldest friends) replace Skold in order to try create the type of quality which they had in the past.

The album starts off on a very average note with the, first song, Devour. That main problem is that it's almost completely driven by Manson's voice, which isn't pleasant by itself. The thing that made the previous albums so great was that all the instruments would work together to create the music, not just rely completely on one.

This is Marilyn Manson, the singer,getting his happy on

Luckily, this is the point where the album picks up in quality, as most of the better songs on the album are at the beginning. From Pretty as a ($) (Originally titled "Pretty as a Swastika", but changed for obvious reasons) and Leave a Scar's funk-influenced riffs and drumming, to the hard-hitting, but still subtle, Four Rusted Horses.

My only problem with Four Rusted Horses (and this is my main gripe with Devour too) is Manson's vocal performance in the chorus. Manson's voice is suited to shouting and spoken word, what it really is not suited to is singing, or at least it isn't suited to the type of singing he seems to do a lot on this album. I understand that it's probably just experimentation, but it really doesn't work,and he does it a lot.

From here we come to what is, in my opinion, the best song on the album. Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon is the fifth song on the album, and the first to receive a music video. As with about 90% of the songs on The High End of Low, it's simple, but it's got a certain complexity to it, which basically means it's effective. The song itself is great, and does something which I feel is rather absent from modern rock and metal, and that is the bass-driven song. This song is almost completely driven by bass and supported by drums, except for the chorus, when the guitar takes over.The lyrics seem nonsensical, but that is standard for a Marilyn Manson song.

The lyrics for Marilyn Manson usually have some metaphorical meaning which isn't immediately obvious. This was the case anyway. A lot of the songs on this album are the type of things you'd find on your Bullet For My Valentine playlist. I don't so much mean the lyrics themselves (which are crazy as ever), but more the meaning behind them. Gone are the days when Marilyn Manson sang about creative things, like the lack of social acceptance and eventual breaking point of millions of children. Now they play songs about Evan Rachel Wood, and what Manson would physically and hypothetically do to her.

One such song is Running to the Edge of the World, which is the closest thing Marilyn Manson are going to do to a love ballad. At first I didn't like this song, but as with If I Was Your Vampire on their previous album, it takes a while before you begin to appreciate it. The songs makes a lot of use of an acoustic guitar, which is unusual for a Marilyn Manson album, albeit a lot more common on this one. This is the one song which I think Manson's singing actually works. It shows what he is actually capable of. He can't sing to the point where he could base an entire career out of it, but this song shows what happens when Manson realises his vocal weaknesses and finds away to improve it. The chorus is also helped along by a violin, which sends out a very soothing melody and works at a nice contrast with Manson's voice.

WOW's title is very appropriate, because it's exactly what you'd say if someone recited the lyrics to you. It's a very industrial, very dirty, very awesome sex romp of a song. It's slow and, like the previous song I mentioned, may take you a few listens to get into, but I highly recommend it. It's the perfect soundtrack to two computers having sex.

This is where the album takes a turn for the worst. Most of the songs in the last 25 to 30minutes are very generic. Nothing really stands out about them. They've all either got some of the problems that I mentioned with other songs or are just bland. I think that was done purposefully; just stick all the average songs at the back and no one will notice them. It just seems like too much of a coincidence to have happened naturally.

Though to lighten the load and not have you play 5 very average songs in a row, they stuck a good one in the middle. We're From America is another one of their industrial numbers, which are very few and very far between on this disc. Luckily, both of the industrial songs are great. This one is a lot faster overall than the last one, and it more of something which you'd find in a gothic night club. The lyrics are meant to be both political and personal to Manson, but I can only hear the political sides to it, but that doesn't mean much as Manson's lyrics can be very tough to figure out.

Closing comments:A lot of people gaveThe High End of Low a lot of flak when it came out, because Manson had promised something along the lines of what many (including myself) consider to be his magnum opus, Antichrist Superstar. The result is nothing at all like Antichrist Superstar, which pissed a lot of people off, and caused them to not judge the album on it's own merits. It's not a bad album, but that being said, it's very scattered and has trouble deciding what it wants to do. I can definitely see the influence of Marilyn Manson's old albums, as if they were trying to capture the magic of days of old.It's not a bad album, but it needs to be more focused.

reg42 wrote:I have no idea why, but everytime I try post the other one it comes up with a fuck ton of spelling mistakes. I'll post it when I can figure out what the fuck is causing it.

'It's probably because this forum doesn't like the formatting. I typed out one of my Escapist reviews in Word instead of Notepad once and it freaked out, I had to spend about half an hour fixing all the %20%'s.

Nice Mazza review too. I'm not a huge fan, but, you have a nice style thar. I hate to say it, but I really don't have an opinion on him so I can't really comment.

reg42 wrote:I have no idea why, but everytime I try post the other one it comes up with a fuck ton of spelling mistakes. I'll post it when I can figure out what the fuck is causing it.

'It's probably because this forum doesn't like the formatting. I typed out one of my Escapist reviews in Word instead of Notepad once and it freaked out, I had to spend about half an hour fixing all the %20%'s.

Nice Mazza review too. I'm not a huge fan, but, you have a nice style thar. I hate to say it, but I really don't have an opinion on him so I can't really comment.

Yeah it really doesn't. I spent ages fixing all the mistakes I made in word and then I copied it over and there were all there again. Bastards!

Never been a huge fan of Marilyn Manson, band or person. No real problem with them, but they just never appealed to me. However, I'm happy to admit that they're cooked up some pretty damn good riffs in their time.

I probably won't give this a go, as if I figure if I want to start anywhere with old MM, I'd probably better start with the best.

Furburt wrote:Never been a huge fan of Marilyn Manson, band or person. No real problem with them, but they just never appealed to me. However, I'm happy to admit that they're cooked up some pretty damn good riffs in their time.

I probably won't give this a go, as if I figure if I want to start anywhere with old MM, I'd probably better start with the best.

Still, good review, very confidently written.

Yeah Manson seems to be a love it or not at all type band. I don't meat many people who like them an average amount.